Gloves Off – Asus pitting its new ZenBook 3 Laptop against Apple’s MacBook

Asus has a new laptop out, the ZenBook 3. A laptop the company is confident enough will take on Apple’s MacBook and MacBook Air ranges and touted to be the ultimate ultra-portable; as it is thinner, lighter, and even more powerful.

The ZenBook 3 has a 12.5-inch display with the base model going for $999 and comes with specs of 4GB RAM, Intel Core i5 chip and a 256GB of internal memory. At that price, this laptop is right there in the neighborhood of Dell’s XPS 13 and Razer Blade Stealth price.

The top line of this model retails at $1,999 and comes with Intel Core i7 chipset, 16GB RAM, and 1TB SSD. That is some pretty decent specs that will help you do just about anything on this laptop.

The ZenBook 3 is housed in a shiny metal casing, and it is quite shiny; it will certainly stand out especially with its gold trims around its edges. You will certainly attract stares towards your direction when you are sited at the corner of the coffee shop while using this laptop.

Like the MacBook, the ZenBook 3 comes with one USB Type-C port; it lacks USB and HDMI ports. That is why Asus was able to make it so thin (less than 0.46 inches thick) and weight about 2 pounds. So, it might be a bummer for some looking for laptops with those ports, but on the other hand USB Type-C port makes the laptop all that much thinner and can be used for charging and data transfer. That means you will not have to carry too many cables with you.

Asus is yet to make public when the ZenBook 3 will start shipping. The following is a roundup of the key specs you can expect from this laptop:

*5-Inch full-HD (1,920×1,080 pixels) display

*9mm in thickness

*USB Type-C

*Base model starts at $999

*Weight about 910g

Asus is fighting hard to become a recognizable brand when it comes to high-end devices. You only need to look at its recently launched ZenFone 3 Deluxe to see how serious Asus is about being a big player in high-end device market.